Q2 2017 Technology Pain & Spending Trends: Enterprise Applications

With half of the year already behind us, many companies who purchased technologies in Q1 have been able to evaluate the return on those spends as well as better understand where business pains still lie. Right now, there is time for companies to purchase products and services that can still impact their 2017 numbers.

As we did in Q1, DiscoverOrg wanted a better understanding of the tech landscape in Q2 2017: where companies and organizations are feeling pain and where technology budget dollars are being spent. So, our Research Department conducted multiple technology category-themed surveys in Marketing, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Applications, Network, Storage, and Security. We asked business professionals who work in these sectors at companies spanning all different industries, sizes, and revenue bands, to indicate the pains they experienced as well as any new spending (as opposed to maintenance or recurring spending) made throughout April, May, and June of this year.

Complex Enterprise App Portfolio (-2% YoY) — Without a true high-level complete view, companies continue to add applications to take care of business needs. This can lead to overlap in application purchases due to lack of communication between departments. The number continues to grow, creating many different information systems and data sprawl that are costly and require a lot of effort to maintain.

Maintenance of Legacy Business Process Apps (+7% YoY) — Upgrading and modernizing IT takes time. As businesses begin to upgrade or replace different systems, there is still a need to integrate with the legacy systems still in place which can be expensive. With rapid innovation, the increased threat of security breaches, and new compliance regulations, maintaining legacy technology has become a pain has spread to even more businesses—increasing by 7% year over year.

No Auto Software Testing across the Development Cycle (-1% YoY) — Test automation controls the execution of tests with an established testing process that can be run quickly and repeatedly. Testing software manually can be incredibly time consuming and labor-intensive. It is also very expensive in the short-term.

Long Application Release Cycles (+2% YoY) — The time between application development and release can range greatly, however, the sooner users interact with the application, the sooner feedback is gathered. From there, changes can be implemented and bugs can be fixed. A long application release cycle delays the necessary feedback from end users and prolongs the final release. Money can be wasted on developing unnecessary features while other features are missing and need to be built.

Integration of Enterprise Apps and Databases (+1% YoY) — Integration of enterprise apps and databases is difficult with data contained in different silos and locations. A common challenge arises when integrating a legacy program with a new program or Web service provider.

Top 5 Enterprise Applications Spends

Mobile Applications (-6% YoY) — Mobile apps allow us to run programs on our mobile devices and tablets allowing people to work remotely, while traveling, etc. increasing efficiency and productivity. Companies have made major investments over the past few years in mobile application development and we may be reaching a place where companies are assessing returns on their mobile investment and slowing their spend. While the number of businesses investing in Mobile Apps has gone down 6% year over year, it still remains the number one most common spend.

Application Development Tools (+2% YoY) — App Development Tools were the second most common spend. These tools help businesses actually create native applications for different operating systems.

Business Intelligence/Analytics Tools (-3% YoY) — Business Intelligence tools are used to gather and analyze data giving businesses the ability to make better, more informed, strategic decisions. Like mobile applications, companies have been making major investments in BI over the past few years and may be taking some time to implement those solutions or reviewing performance, rather than making brand new investments.

Application Integration Solutions (-2% YoY) — Application integration solutions create a united front of data in real time. It bridges the gap between the multiple applications where your data is stored. When everyone can see the same information, better, more strategic decisions can be made.

CRM Software (-1% YoY) — Enterprise CRMs are designed for large, complex businesses and allows multiple departments to have access to the same company and customer data—this typically leads to improved customer service overall. CRM software helps in sales management, customer service, marketing automation, lead tracking, account management, and more—making all departments more organized and efficient.